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Update - Time to dust off the lathe!
I have been busy working on the guitar for the last couple of weeks. The small stuff always takes the longest.
Routing the PU cavities and the electronics bay took ages and wore out a few router bits - oak is hard!
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted a bridge that 'bridged' the river. This rules out the standard TOM bridge as it is too narrow and would mean drilling the inserts into the clear resin - not a good look.
So I looked to design my own bridge with 6 slots that each hold a small piece of fretwire to act as saddles. Bridges like this do exist - I think Simon Bardon was involved in a thread about one a couple of days ago.
The problem I had was how to make it height adjustable. This brings me nicely to my pet hate!
Have you noticed how the threads on the posts and inserts of the standard TOM bridges are all sloppy. I know the pressure of the strings holds everything in position but threads that are loose is just sloppy engineering! Rant over.
So, below are some pictures showing the structure of the bridge - it is not finished yet but I made the parts on my lathe and the bridge is made of maple and walnut. The saddle plate is maple and walnut topped with ebony.
I guess you can see how it will fit together.
Turning the threads was fun. I used the tailstock of the lathe to put pressure on the die and then turned the chuck by hand - last time I did that was when I learned the method at school over 50 years ago! (Lathe was switched off and unplugged for that before someone mentions Health and Safety)
Don't know if it will work but it is fun trying these things out!
Cheers
Ricky
5 Attachment(s)
Fretted and (half) polished!
Its been a while since the last update but each job has been a little one and not worth an individual update.
Current position is as follows...
Body and neck complete and bonded together
Fretboard complete and fitted with Jescar EVO Gold frets (more on this further on).
All clearcoat done and rubbed back.
Now on to the assembly stage.
In another thread, I was discussing with Simon and McCreed about the new Jescar EVO Gold fretwire.
The wire I fitted was the 'medium' size so thinner than the more normal 'medium-jumbo'.
Also, I bought the wire pre-radiused to 10 inches.
Fret tang (bare) is 0.6mm and with the teeth it is 0.8mm.
I used a razor saw to cut the slots and then widened them with my fretsaw with a 0.5mm blade.
This is really the perfect size for the tang - tight but not so that you have to hammer the living daylights out of it.
I found that the frets are actually easier to cut than the normal nickel-silver frets. The side cutter on my normal pliers just clipped through them with ease as opposed to 'squeezing' through the nickel silver.
They are harder to file or grind but polish beautifully. I cannot comment on durability yet but they are certainly harder!
Many people use Autosol or another metal cleaner/polish. I use T-Cut. There is another brand out there called Colour-cut which does the same.
I will definitely use EVO-Gold whenever I need (or can get away with) gold frets.
Tomorrow I will carry on with the installation of the Alnicov locking tuners, Warman Tonerider pu's and the electrickery stuff. Plus cut the bone nut.
I have still not decided on how to earth the strings but I have a cunning plan in mind which also involves the EVO Gold fretwire.
Photos!
Cheers
Ricky